Leg locking device for folding tables



March 20, 1962 s. R. MICKELSON LEG LOCKING DEVICE FOR FOLDING TABLES Filed Sept. 25, 1958 Hail;

" "lump Patented Mar. 20, 1962 3,026,161 LEG LOCKING DEVICE FOR FOLDING TABLES Samuel R. lVIickelson, New Bedford, ll Iass. (29 Kenilworth St., Newton, lvIass.) Filed Sept. 25, 1958, Ser. No. 763,250

- 11 Claims. (Cl. 31199) My invention relates to foldable legs for card tables and the like, and it has for its primary object to provide novel means which is operable to firmly retain individual legs in operative position and likewise in inwardly folded position against the bottom of the table top.

The invention contemplates a novel leg pivoting bracket member for attachment to the underside of the table top and a shiftable leg-carried abutment which is preferably spring actuated to engage one bracket portion to retain the leg in operative position and to bear against another bracket portion to secure it in folded position adjacent the under table top surface.

An important object of the invention is to provide simple, efficient and durable, but inexpensive means for the purposes specified which is readily operable and admits of the leg being manually swung from one position to the other.

A further and more specific object is to furnish a novel sleeve form leg-carried stop which is spring actuated to make constant bearing engagement with the leg-pivoting bracket and wherein a novel leg carried sleeve concealed stop is provided for a sleeve housed actuating spring.

Invention also resides in the leg-pivoting bracket and in various novel features of construction, combination and arrangement of the various parts, as will be understood and appreciated by those versed in the art, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing showing a now preferred example of the invention.

It is to be understood that the drawing disclosure is to be taken as illustrative rather than limitative, since my inventive concept is susceptible of other mechanical expressions within the spirit and scope of the subject matter claimed hereinafter.

In the drawing, wherein the same reference characters have been used to designate the same parts throughout- FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a table carried bracket and related leg embodying my invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 22 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a detail view of a leg carried spring support which is embodied in the invention; and

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the leg carrying bracket.

Referring to the drawing by reference characters, numeral indicates the table top, one of its supporting legs being indicated at 11 and shown as pivoted, at at 12, between the side walls 14 of the bracket 13 which is secured to the under table top surface.

As illustrated, the bracket is seen to be U-form in horizontal section (FIG. 5) and to comprise the laterally spaced side walls 14 which are connected by the bight or rear wall 15. Attachment of bracket 13 to the underside of the table top 10 is made by screws or the like 17 which extend through holes in the outwardly extending top mounting flanges 16 of the bracket side walls 14.

The side bracket walls 14 perform very important functions as will be explained hereinafter. Referring to FIG. 2, it is noted that bracket side walls 14 have upper frontal edge portions 18 commencing at the site of mounting flanges 16 and which edge portions constitute a seat for a leg-carried stop when the leg is folded inwardly against the table top. The frontal seat-providing edges 18 are substantially perpendicular to mounting flanges 16 and extend downwardly for about two-thirds of the depth of the bracket side walls 14 to merge with the respective rearwardly curving frontal surfaces 19 of the wall-provided cam portions 21}.

The rear camming edges 21 of the side wall-provided cam portions 24) slant inwardly and rearwardly as shown in FIG. 2 and terminate at the site of the rearwardly extending wall edge-provided seat 22 which is aligned with and in part formed by the lower edge of the rear, or bight wall 15 of the bracket. As indicated in FIG. 2 and as will be referred to more fully shortly, this secend wall edge-provided seat 22 is adapted to be engaged, or closely approached, by a leg-carried and spring backed stop 23. This stop 23, along with leg 11, is actuated outwardly by cam surfaces 21 to retain the leg in operative position and in bearing engagement with the lower edge of the bight or rear wall 15 of bracket 13.

Coming now to the leg-carried stop 23 to which incidental reference has been made, FIGS. 1 and 2 of the drawing illustrate the leg 11 as having slidable thereon the oversized stop-providing sleeve 23 having at its upper end an endless inwardly extending leg-engaging flange 23a and at its lower end an outward reinforcing curl 23b. A leg-carried spring backing member 25, to be presently described, serves to slidably mount the lower end of sleeve 23 on leg 11.

It is to be noted from the full line showing of FIG. 2 that when the leg 11 is in its depending operative position, the spring backed sleeve 23 has its inwardly flanged upper end 23a in engagement with the bracket-wallprovided seat 22; and that curved outer portions 23a of the sleeve end engage cam edges 21 to cause the up per leg portion to bear against the lower edge of bracket wall 15, as earlier mentioned. The sleeve end need not actually engage seat 22, as will be apparent. It is also to be noted that since the leg 11 slants outwardly in its operative position the weight of the table top 10 tends to retain it in engagement with the lower edge of brack et bight wall 15.

The spring backing means for sleeve 23 comprises the upper leg portion-surrounding coil spring 26 having its upper end engaging the sleeve flange 23a and its lower end engaging the previously mentioned leg-carried stop 25 disposed inwardly of the curled lower end 23b of the sleeve 23 in all operating positions of the latter. The stop 25 is U-shapcd but with its exterior edge 25a curved to slidably support sleeve 23, the leg 11 having opposite sides provided with aligned transverse grooves 24 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3 to receive the opposed inner edges 25b of the stop member 25.

From the foregoing description it will be apparent how the spring actuated sleeve 23 retains leg 11 in the operative full line position of FIGS. 1 and 2. When the table is to be stored, the respective stop sleeves 23 are pressed downwardly and the related legs are forced inwardly about the pivots 12, the ends 23a of the spring actuated stop sleeves 23 ride inwardly on the flange edges 19, 18 until the respective legs 11 are adjacent the table top 10. In this position the pressure of sleeve end 23a against the seat-providing bracket edges 18 retains the leg adjacent the table top 10.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a pivoted table top-carried leg which is swingable from a depending operative position to a position underlying the table top, a bracket for attachment to the underside of the table top and having a depending Wall providing inner, bottom and outer edge portions, means horizontally pivoting the leg to said wall adjacent the upper end of said wall between said inner and outer edge portions, a transversely extending abutment carried by the lower outer portion of said wall and positioned outwardly of the plane of said pivot means to intercept the leg to prevent outward movement thereof past an operative table-supporting position in which the leg is inclined at an outward angle with respect to the table top, a movable spring-actuated stop carried by said leg and arranged to engage opposed bottom and inner edge portions of said depending bracket wall in the movement of the leg to and from operative position, and said wall having a bottom edge-provided cam portion in inwardly spaced functional opposition to said abutment and engaging said leg-carried spring-actuated stop to releasably' retain said leg in engagement 'with said abutment to cooperate with the table top weight in retaining the leg in its outwardly inclined operative position.

2. In a' pivoted table top-carried leg which is swingable from a depending operative position to a position underlying the table top, a bracket for: attachment to the underside of the table top and having a depending wall providing inner, bottom and outer edge portions, means horizontally pivoting the leg to said wall adjacent the upper end of said wall between said inner and outer edge portions, a transversely extending abutment carried by the lower outer portion of said wall and positioned outwardly of the plane of said pivot means to intercept the leg to prevent outward movement thereof past an operative table-supporting position in which the leg is inclined at an outward angle with respect to the table top, a movable spring-actuated stop carried by said leg and arranged leg in engagement with said abutment to cooperate with' the table top Weight in retaining the leg in its outwardly inclined operative position, a seat provided by the upper inner edge of said bracket wall, the lower inner edge of said wall providing a cam communicating with said bottom edge-provided cam portion, and said operatively positioned depending leg following manual depression of said stop being manually swingable past said wall bottom-provided cam edge to ride past said cam edge onto said inner wall-provided cam edge to ultimately engage said seat so as to retain the leg in a plane adjacent to and parallel with that of the under surface of the table top.

3. The structure of claim 1, and said bracket being Ur-shaped and providing a bight wall and two depending side walls with which said stop engages, and the lower portion of said bight wall comprising said leg intercepting abutment.

4. The structure of claim 2, and said bracket being U-shaped and providing a bight wall and two depending side walls with which said stop engages and the lower portion of said bight wall comprising said leg intercept.- ing abutment.

5. The structure of claim 1, and the actuating means for said stop comprising a leg-portion. surrounding coil spring, said stop comprising an oversized sleeve slidable on said leg and concealing said spring, the upper end of said sleeve having an inwardly extending spring endsustaining flange, and a leg-carried shoulder means sustaining the other end of said spring, the inner edge of said flange and the outer edge of said shoulder means slidably mounting the sleeve on said leg.

6. The structure of claim 1, and the actuating means for said stop comprising a leg-portion surrounding coil spring, said stop comprising an oversized sleeve slidable on said leg and concealing said spring, the upper end of said sleeve having an inwardly extending spring endsustaining and sleeve guiding flange means, a removable U-form leg-carried and sleeve guiding support for the other end of said spring and underlying said sleeve, said leg having opposite transverse surface grooves in which said U-form support seats to be retained seated by said sleeve.

7. The structure of claim 2, and said bracket being U-shaped and providing a bight wall and two depending side walls with which said stop engages, the lower portion of said bight wall comprising said leg intercepting abutment, the actuating means for said stop comprising a leg-portion surrounding coil spring, said stop comprising an oversized sleeve slidable on said leg and concealing said spring, the upper end of said sleeve having inwardly extending sleeve guidingand spring end-sustaining abutment means, a removable U-form leg-carried support for the other end of said spring and underlying said sleeve as a guide therefor, said leg having opposite transverse surface grooves in which said U-form support seats to be retained seated by said sleeve.

8. In a pivoted card table leg and its mount, which latter provides separate seating means for selective engagement by a shiftable leg-carried member for retaining the leg in operative or inwardly folded position; the improvement which comprises mount-engaging leg positioning means for selective engagement in said mount seats and comprising an oversized sleeve slidable on said leg and having an inwardly extending upper end provided leg-engaging guide means, a coil spring on said leg between the guide means and said sleeve, the upper end of said spring engaging said sleevecarried guide means,

. and a removable leg-carried stop means underlying said sleeve as a guide therefor and supporting the lower end of said spring,.whereby the spring normally urges the sleeve to engage said mount so as to selectively engage said seats when the leg is swung in different directions.

9. The structure of claim 8, and said leg-carried stop means being generally U-form, and said leg having opposite transverse seating grooves receiving the opposed inner leg portions of said stop means.

10. The structure of claim 8, and said leg-carried stop means being generally U-form with a continuously curved exterior guiding edge for the lower sleeve portion, said leg having opposite transverse seating grooves receiving the opposed inner leg portions of said stop means, and the upper sleeve-end provided guide means constituting an endless sleeve-guiding flange.

11. In a pivoted card table leg or the like and a mount to which it is pivoted for vertical swinging movement; the combination of a yielding leg-carried stop normally engaging the mount, the mount providing spaced seats to retain the leg in different positions in the path of swinging movement of said leg carried stop and to be engaged by the latter to hold the leg in depending operative position or in an inwardly swunginoperative position, and said leg-carried stop comprising an oversized sleeve slidable on said leg and having an inwardly extending leg engaging guide means at one end, a leg carried sleeveunderlying guide means adjacent the other sleeve end, and a. coil spring surrounding said leg and compressed between said two sleeve guide means to urge the sleeve form stop against said mount and for yieldably maintaining the stop in engagement with said seats.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,120,702 Erdman Dec. 15, 1914 1,529,482 Hall -i Mar. 10, 1925 1,809,564 OConnor et al. June 9, 1931 1,855,857 Harman Apr. 26, 1932 1,876,010 Kusterle Sept. 6, 1932 1,935,540 Bogardus Nov. 14, 1933 1,962,126 Andersen June 12, 1934 2,558,915 Shelter July 3, 1951 2,574,592 Schaffer Nov. 13, 1951 2,760,838 Greacen Aug. 28, 1956 

